Recently we checked out our credit report and were surprised to see a $500 unpaid charge. It was from a video store we frequented in college. (We could’ve sworn we returned Wicker Man….) The video store had never sent us any notice and the debt was sold to a collection agency, who had also never contacted us. Odd.

No matter, we clicked on the items in our online credit reports and clicked “dispute this charge.”

We selected from a drop box something like, “Never received any notice of account being due,” and wrote two sentences to that effect. Clicked the submit button, had a beer and watched some TV.

A month later, a letter from Experian arrived. It said they deleted the negative items from our credit report. Sweet. Easy peasy. We hope the other two bureaus we disputed with are such as cinch.

Now you try it, at annualcreditreport.com. Ignore any pitches for extra services, your credit report is free by federal law and there’s no reason to give anyone a credit card number. — BEN POPKEN

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